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Abbas Embraces the Islamists

(Times of Israel) David Horovitz - When announcing the Fatah-Hamas reconciliation deal, Hamas' Gaza prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, far from expressing an improbable new desire to enter talks with the Zionist enemy, restated his organization's consistent position that the peace process with Israel does not serve Palestinian strategic interests. The Palestinian shift we are observing is not one of Hamas undergoing moderation, but of Abbas' Fatah willingly submitting itself to the bear hug of the Islamic extremists. Abbas has not been prepared to work energetically to create a climate among his people in favor of the compromises necessary for Palestinian statehood alongside, and peace with, Israel. He's not reined in the toxic anti-Israel orientation of the Palestinian media. He's not revolutionized the Palestinian education system. He's hailed evil men and women who have murdered Israelis, extorted their releases from Israel's jails as his price for consenting to negotiate with Israel, and welcomed them home as heroes. Abbas is no Anwar Sadat, no King Hussein. He simply was not willing to tackle the profound anti-Israel sentiment among his people, and was certainly not prepared to risk his own well-being, for the noble, high-risk cause of a negotiated path to statehood. With Wednesday's superficial unity deal, Abbas is escaping the deeply uncomfortable pressure to compromise with Israel and instead embracing a veneer of Palestinian unity. It was also an act that underlined the impotence of the American interlocutors, whose warnings against an alliance with Hamas were blithely ignored. It likely marks the start of an intensified Palestinian effort to demonize Israel on the world stage.
2014-04-25 00:00:00
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